FLORI EPITOMAE DE TITO LIVIO BELLORVM OMNIVM ANNORVM DCC LIBRI DVO LIBER PRIMVS
Annaeus Florus [Florus]
1st c. BC-1st c. AD
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Imperial Age)
A Romulo tempora regum septem. [The period of seven kings starting from Romulus]
I. Primus ille et urbis et imperii conditor Romulus fuit, Marte genitus et Rhea Silvia.
[Romulus was the original founder of the city and state, born from Mars and Rhea Silvia.]
Hoc de se sacerdos gravida confessa est,
[The priestess admitted that she was pregnant with him,]
nec mox Fama dubitavit,
[and soon the story became a matter of doubt,]
cum Amulii regis imperio abiectus in profluentem cum Remo fratre non potuit exstingui,
[when, cast out by the court of King Amulius into the nearby river along with his brother Remo, he still could not be put down,]
--
Populus Romanus a rege Romulo in Caesarem Augustum septingentos per annos tantum operum pace belloque gessit, ut, si quis magnitudinem imperii cum annis conferat, aetatem ultra putet.
(In peace and war, the Roman people, from King Romulus to Augustus Caesar, the Roman people have prevailedl through seven hundred years of great deeds, if someone had meditated upon the magnitude of the empire along with its years, he would think ponder for more than a century;)
Ita late per orbem terrarum arma circumtulit, ut qui res illius legunt non unius populi, sed generis humani facta condiscant.
(So widely has it surrounded warfare throughout the world, that not only do men speak of these things for only that single and famous nation, but they might proclaim them the accomplishments of the entire human race;)
Tot in laboribus periculisque iactatus est, ut ad constituendum eius imperium contendisse Virtus et Fortuna videatur.
(So many times has it been hurled into distresses and dangers, that Virtue and Fortune seem to have endeavored for the establishment of their empire;)
Qua re, cum, si quid aliud, hoc quoque operare pretium sit cognoscere, tamen, quia ipsa sibi obstat magnitudo rerumque diversitas aciem intentionis abrumpit, faciam quod solent qui terrarum situs pingunt:
(So, since, if there be something else, there is a cost for even learning how to labor, still, because this immensity stands in its way, and this diversity of matters interrupts one's line of intention, I shall do what men are accustomed to do, those ones who paint maps of the world:)
in brevi quasi tabella totam eius imaginem amplectar, non nihil ut spero, ad admirationem principis populi conlaturus, si pariter atque in semel universam magnitudinem eius ostendero.
(As in a brief tablet, I will embrace its whole appearance, not because I hope for anything, just carried by the admiration of our ancient nation, if I could show its world-wide magnitude, all at once and equally.)
Si quis ergo populum Romanum quasi unum hominem consideret totamque eius aetatem percenseat, ut coeperit utque adoleverit, ut quasi ad quandam iuventae frugem pervenerit, ut postea velut consenuerit, quattuor gradus processusque eius inveniet.
(If someone should imagine the Roman people to be a single man and count all the way through his total age, as this man was conceived and began to grow, and just as he traveled through to that well-known fruit of his young age, whereafter he began to grow old: that someone would find four ages and cyle of this man;)
Prima aetas sub regibus fuit prope per annos CCL, quibus circum urbem ipsam cum finitimis luctatus est.
(The first age occured under the kings for around 250 years, during which the origin occured around this city and its boundaries;)
Haec erit eius infantia.
(Let's declare this to be its infancy;)
Sequens a Bruto Collatinoque consulibus in Appium Claudium Marcum Fulvium consules CCL annos patet, quibus Italiam subegit.
(Then, for 250 years, it endures the consuls, all the way from Brutus and Collatinus to Appius Claudius Marcus Fulvius, under whom the city conquered Italy;)
Hoc fuit tempus viris, armis incitatissimum, ideoque quis adulescentiam dixerit.
(This was a time of manly valors: one most driven by wars, and in like fashion, a man could call this phase Rome's adulescent years;)
Deinceps ad Caesarem Augustum CC anni, quibus totum orbem pacavit.
(Then, from there to Augustus Caesar, after 200 years, during which Rome pacified the entire world;)
Hic iam ipsa iuventus imperii et quaedam quasi robusta maturitas.
(Here and now, this was the young man's phase of the empire, and that particular robust age of maturity;)
A Caesare Augusto in saeculum nostrum haud multo minus anni ducenti, quibus inertia Caesarum quasi consenuit atque decoxit, nisi quod sub Traiano principe movit lacertos et praeter spem omnium senectus imperii quasi reddita iuventute reviserit.
(From Augustus Caesar to our own century, there lacks no less than 200 years, in which the idleness of the Caesars has likewise grown senile and rickety, except when it stirred its limbs under emperor Trajan and looked back upon its youth, as it restored,though beyound all hope of the empire's old age;)
Primus ille et urbis et imperii conditor Romulus fuit, Marte genitus et Rhea Silvia.
(First, there was that famous founder of the city and its empire, Romulus, born from Mars and Rhea Silvia;)
Hoc de se sacerdos gravida confessa est, nec mox Fama dubitavit, cum Amulii regis imperio abiectus in profluentem cum Remo fratre non potuit exstingui, si quidem et Tiberinus amnem repressit, et relictis catulis lupa secuta vagitum ubera admovit infantibus matremque se gessit.
(The pregnancy of a prietess made itself known in herself, and soon her Rumor did not come into doubt, after which Romulus, cast out by the authority of King Amulius into the river with her brother Remus, could not be disposed of, as the River Tiber pushed his wave back, and a she-wolf, leading out from her abandoned pups, moved her step to the infants and made herself their nurturing mother;)
Sic repertos apud arborem Faustulus regii gregis pastor tulit in casam atque educavit.
(Then, the shepherd Faustulus took the kids home, whom he found under a tree, and he raised them;)
Alba tunc erat Latio caput, Iuli opus; nam Lavinium patris Aeneae contempserat.
(Then Alba, Iulus' establishment, became the master in Latium; for he hated Lavinium, the city of his father Aeneas;)
Ab his Amulius iam septima subole regnabat, fratre pulso Numitore, cuius ex filia Romulus.
(Then, Amulius ruled the seventh generation from these foundations, after expelling his brother Numitor, from whose daughter Romulus was sprung;)
Igitur statim prima iuventae face patruum ab arce deturbat, avum reponit.
(So, he immediately removes his uncle from the throne at the first bloom of his manhood, and he restored his grandfather;)
Ipse fulminis amator et montium, apud quod erat educatus, moenia novae urbis agitabat.
(He, fascinated with lightning and moutains, in which he was raised, began to establish the walls of a new city;)
Gemini erant; uter auspicaretur et regeret, adhibere placuit deos.
(They were twin brothers; each of the two would take the auspices and rule: they decided to adhere to the gods;)
Remus montem Aventinum, hic Palatinum occupat.
(Remus takes the Aventine hill; the other, the Palatine;)
Prior ille sex vultures, his postea, sed duodecim vidit.
(First, Remus sees six vultures, after which, the other sees twelve of the same birds;)
Sic victor augurio urbem excitat, plenus spei bellatricem fore;
(So the victor, full of hope, initiates the city with bird-watching, a city destined to become a mistress of war;)
id adsuetae sanguine et praeda aves pollicebantur.
(And the birds accustomed to blood and prize promised it so;)
Ad tutelam novae urbis sufficere vallum videbatur, cuius dum angustias Remus increpat saltu, dubium an iussu fratris, occisus est:
(At the base of the city, he seemed to build the wall, whose turrets Remus leaps over, or doubting the order of his brother, he was killed;)
prima certe victima fuit munitionemque urbis novae sanguine suo consecravit.
(He certainly was the first victim, and he consecrated the protection of the new city with his own blood;)
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